The Canada Year Book was one of the best statistical resources to help provide a snapshot of a national picture of the country. Earlier versions ( 19th century to 19-70s) included complete chapters on progress with communications, transportation, agriculture and so on. Later versions were less interesting. It was a 145 year tradition which provided a report on the state of the nation. The year book was an excellent reference resource.
We are now being left without a compiled picture, we no longer produce atlases, year books, and we barely collect census data and we do not report on national issues in a cohesive way. We are moving into an era of open access to numbers but no comprehensive story telling. Even the access to numbers is discombobulated at best and the stories being told about them lack grounded knowledge and integration.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/this-year-canada-year-book-will-close-forever/article5246841/
StatCan
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/121113/dq121113b-eng.htm--
Tracey P. Lauriault
Post Doctoral Fellow
Geomatics and Cartographic Research Centre
Locked
